When a user starts up a personal computer (PC), an initial, small operating system, stored in the local solid state memory of the PC, known as the basic input output system (BIOS), first starts up. Among other tasks, BIOS copies files of the main operating system (O.S.) from the hard disk drive (HDD) of the PC, where the files permanently reside, into memory of the PC, which accessed during operation for fast access and then flushed of the main O.S. files upon shut down. HDDs also often include a recovery partition which may be used to restore the HDD if errors or other abnormalities arise.
As understood herein, however, the HDD may become completely inaccessible or otherwise malfunction (colloquially referred to as being “fried”) to the point at which the tools and files in the HDD recovery partition to restore the HDD are unavailable. If a PC has experienced such a problem or a user needs help with system recovery, and a computer user customer has no (or limited) internet access, it is problematic for the customer to contact and find the nearest service center or online help server.